Things Nod Learned from Ronin
by Isabeau1
Summary: Nod is not a morning person, nor does he like archery. Ronin doesn't think either of these is a good reason to stay away from the archery range.


**Author's notes:** This may turn into a series of one-shots about Nod and Ronin, but I can't guarantee it. I suspect if it does, it will jump around chronologically quite a bit. For now, I hope you enjoy this one shot about an adolescent Nod's less than affectionate relationship with archery and mornings.

* * *

**The Archery Range**

"Nod get up."

Nod moaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head.

"Come on, we're going to the range," Ronin shook his shoulder.

"Sleeping…" Nod protested.

"I can see that," Ronin's voice was dry, and Nod couldn't see the amused look on his face with his head under his pillow.

Nod swatted blindly at him, trying to get him to go away, and Ronin snatched his pillow. Ronin had captains who complained constantly about getting their teenagers out of bed in the morning, but it had never bothered him. It was particularly satisfying recently as Nod hadn't been sleeping well since his mother's death, so having to actually wake him up was an improvement. He would have let him keep sleeping, but he had a meeting this afternoon, and if Nod didn't get up now, they wouldn't have time to get to the archery range.

Which might not upset Nod as he didn't really like archery.

"What time is it?" Nod blinked hazily at the light peeking through his closed curtains.

"It's not that early," Ronin dropped the pillow back on his head, "I've already been to two meeting this morning."

"That doesn't mean anything," Nod grumbled, hugging his pillow to his chest and burying his face against it, "you schedule your meeting stupidly early."

"Get up," Ronin flicked his ear, "we can grab lunch at the market afterwards."

"Hey!" Nod covered his ear protectively, "I'm up."

"We're leaving in ten minutes," Ronin rumpled his hair and left him to get dressed.

* * *

"Don't drop your elbow," Ronin said as Nod drew his bow.

Nod corrected his form without comment and let loose his arrow. He was still yawning between every shot, but he was mostly awake, awake enough to hit the target anyway, even if he wasn't hitting the center with any sort of consistency.

"You said something about food," Nod said with another yawn, lowering his bow to watch Ronin take his next shot.

There was a unit on the range farther down, and just enough off-duty Leafmen practicing at their end that they were sharing a target. Ronin had learned very quickly when he became general that he needed to be responsible for his own training. There were plenty of officers he could train with, but training was no longer built into his daily routine the way it had been when he had been part of a unit. In order to keep his edge, he had to make sure he made time to train.

It did give him the flexibility to drag Nod along on a fairly regular basis.

"So you were awake," Ronin smirked as he took his shot, hitting the center ring.

Nod gave the bulls-eye a sour look and drew another arrow. He liked sword work and was starting to show a particular affinity for the short sword, but he hadn't warmed up to the bow at all. He would still train with it when Ronin dragged him along though, and it was an important skill for him to have.

"So there is food," Nod hit the middle of the second ring.

"Yeah," Ronin laughed a little, "we'll get a couple more rounds in and grab some lunch."

Nod had been consistent in his desire to become a Leafman, although they hadn't actually talked about it in a while. In some ways it didn't matter to Ronin. Nod was showing an aptitude for many of the skills Leafmen needed, and he would probably be good at it, but Ronin wouldn't have protested him choosing a safer profession.

Ronin grouped his next shot in tight to the one before and ignored the face Nod made at him. He had known Nod his whole life, and he had never been a morning person, even less so when he wasn't getting enough sleep.

Nod yawned again before lining up for his next shot.

"You're drawing with your arm; you need to draw with your shoulders," Ronin reached over and pressed his palm between Nod's shoulder blades, "you should feel it right here."

Nod eased off the string and lowered the arrow, rolling out his shoulders before redrawing. He landed the arrow in the second ring again.

"That didn't help at all," Nod huffed.

"Well, you buried it two fingers deeper," Ronin grinned, "but you have to aim if you actually want to hit the center."

"Shut up," Nod grumbled.

Ronin snickered and took the next shot, hitting the center ring again.

He had always insisted that Nod train, but it wasn't because he was set on him being a Leafman. Training gave Nod an outlet for all his energy and a way to vent his emotions that didn't involve getting into trouble, but even that wasn't really why. Ronin knew he couldn't always be there to protect Nod, so he needed to make sure Nod could protect himself, regardless of what he chose to do.

Nod's patience lasted another three rounds of not hitting the center, although his form improved slightly with every shot. He may or may not have noticed it.

"Can we go eat now?" Nod asked.

"Yes," Ronin took one more shot before lowering his bow.

"Good," Nod started to unstring his bow, "we're out of honey brittle."

"You're not having honey brittle for lunch," Ronin sighed.

Ronin had kept sweets at his apartment for Nod since he was little, but since he had moved in a few months ago, they had been going through them far more rapidly than he had expected.

"I didn't say I wanted it for lunch," Nod slid his unstrung bow into his quiver, "just that we're out, and I don't see why I can't."

"You can't live on honey brittle," Ronin rolled his eye.

"Bet I could," Nod smirked.

"No," Ronin cuffed the back of his head lightly, then slid his arm around his shoulders dragging him with him as they left the range, "but we can pick some up on the way home."

* * *

**Author's note of no importance what-so-ever:** I know I said Nod was a teenager, but he's technically not. Jinn seem to live a really long time (the normal reign of a queen is a 100 years, and Ronin knew Tara when they were young, so they're both over 100 years old, and they certainly don't look it), and species that live a long time tend to mature more slowly, so I suspect Nod is actually much older than he looks, although he is probably exactly the age we think he is developmentally. I don't really have the motivation to come up with the developmental equivalencies between Jinn and humans. Hence, Nod is a teenager in this story, or the equivalent of one. He'd be around 15 here.


End file.
